Ouareau River

The Ouareau River is a tributary of the Assomption River crossing the administrative region of Lanaudière, in Quebec, in Canada.

MRC of Matawinie Regional County Municipality: municipalities of Saint-Donat, Notre-Dame-de-la-Merci, Chertsey, Rawdon;
MRC of Montcalm Regional County Municipality: municipalities of Sainte-Julienne, Saint-Liguori, Saint-Jacques;
MRC of Joliette Regional County Municipality: municipalities of Crabtree, Saint-Paul.

The course of the river passes near the villages of Chertsey, Rawdon, Saint-Liguori and Crabtree.
The lower part of the Ouareau valley is served mainly by : the route 346, the route 125, the chemin Archambault at Crabtree, chemin du rang de l'Église is generally frozen from mid-December to the end of March; safe circulation on the ice is generally done from the end of December to the beginning of March. The water level of the river varies with the seasons and the precipitation.

Geography

The Ouareau river has its source in the territory of the municipality of Saint-Donat-de-Montcalm, 12.4 km from the village, at the dam erected at the northeast mouth of Lake Ouareau. The mouth of this lake is located north of the village of Notre-Dame-de-la-Merci, northwest of the village center of Rawdon, northwest of the center-town of Joliette.
It descends in a south-easterly direction, traversing some. In its course, it receives the waters of:

Pagé Creek
Dufresne River
Beaulne River
Noir stream
Beaurivage Creek
Gour stream
Trudel River
Rivière du Nord (Ouareau River)
Jean-Venne River
Burton River
Rouge River

From the dam at the mouth of lake Ouareau, the Ouareau river flows over according to the following segments:
Upper course of the Ouareau river

north-east in Saint-Donat, crossing the southern part of lac Chambord, until at the bridge on Chemin Saint-Guillaume;
towards the south-east, collecting the waters of the outlet of Lac Sombre, up to the limit of Notre-Dame-de-la-Merci;
south-east in the canton of Chilton, in the municipality of Notre-Dame-de-la-Merci, up to Crique Lafrenière ;
towards the south-east, crossing Les Cinq Chutes, up to the bridge of the route 347;
towards the south-east, collecting at the start of the segment the discharge from a group of lakes, collecting the waters of the discharge from the Lacs du Castor and the North River (Ouareau River) and crossing the Ouareau Forest Regional Park, until bordering on Chertsey;

Intermediate course of the Ouareau river

southwards in Chertsey, collecting the waters of the Baulne River, of the Black stream, from the North river, and bypassing the village of Grande-Vallée on the east side, up to the outlet of the lake Beavers, located south of the village;
to the south, collecting the waters of Beaurivage brook and Perreault brook, up to the bridge on Chemin de l'Église;
towards the south by crossing rapids and falls, until the confluence of the Jean-Venne River ;
to the south, crossing several rapids and falls, until the confluence of the Burton River;
south-east, until the limit of Rawdon;
south-east in Rawdon, to Les Cascades rapids, located at the entrance to Lac Pontbriand;
to the east, crossing Pontbriand Lake over its full length, to the Rawdon dam, located in the village of Rawdon;

Lower course of the Ouareau river

towards the south-east, passing south of Rawdon and under the bridge of the route 348 in Mansonville, to the route 337 bridge ;
south-east, passing through the Parc des Chutes-Dorwin south of Rawdon, crossing Manchester Falls and forming the boundary between Saint-Jacques and Saint-Liguori, to the bridge at route 341;
towards the south-east, forming the limit between Saint-Jacques and Saint-Liguori;
south-east, up to the route 346 bridge in the village of Saint-Liguori;
towards the south-east, bypassing Archange-Godbout Island, up to the limit of Crabtree;
south-east in Crabtree, to route 158;
south-east, until the confluence of the Rouge River ;
towards the south-east, passing by the village of Crabtree which is located on the south-west bank of the Ouareau river;
towards the south-east, forming the limit between Crabtree and Saint-Paul;
to the south-east, forming a large S to Pointe à Forget where the confluence of the river is located.

The Ouareau River flows on the west bank of the Assomption River, at the end of Pointe à Forget, in the municipality of Saint-Paul, at south of the city of Joliette. This confluence is located at:

north-west of the St. Lawrence River;
south-east of the Crabtree bridge;
south of downtown Joliette.

Toponymy

Its name comes from Algonquin and means in the distance.
The river Ouareau toponym was formalized on December 5, 1968, at the Commission de toponymie du Québec.

Ecology

The water quality is better upstream of Crabtree than downstream, where we observe a decline in the quality of the fish, due to urban, industrial and agricultural pollution.